Community is Messy

Community is messy. This is because true community is comprised of broken and messy people. We don't check our baggage at the door. Rather, we enter community with all the baggage we have managed to collect in life--negative opinions, selfish motivations, lustful desires, quick tempers, judgmental attitudes, critical spirits, and so on. Of course we enter community with all kinds of positive strengths, abilities, and gifts to offer other people as well, but that is a separate point. This post is about how community can get messy.

A few years ago a community group that I was leading got particularly messy when an individual joined our group that suffered from mental illness. Everyone brings baggage to life together, but this phase of life together brought challenges I didn't originally anticipate. This individual was manic-depressive. She would either totally dominate community interaction with off the wall excitement or would sit passive and be emotionally checked out. Additionally, she stopped seeking professional help under the premise that our community group would offer the support she needed.

This is obviously an extreme example. But I think it supports the primary proposition of this post--community is messy. It is comprised of broken and messy people. And because of this, a certain degree of messiness ought to be expected when it comes to life together. I have witnessed some people join community groups and stay involved up until the moment things get messy or difficult. Often times these people forget they bring their own baggage to life together. Expect a certain degree of messiness. Knowing that community can get messy can pave the way for grace.